TV Watch

By Rennie Dyball

09/16/2012 at 07:30 AM EDT

Theresa Caputo can’t help it – when a spirit is trying to communicate, she simply can’t ignore the message.

Such was the case when Caputo, the star of TLC’s Long Island Medium, was interviewing prospective assistants. In this exclusive clip from Sunday’s episode, she channels the spirit of one candidate’s mother.

“I had no intention of channeling spirit,” she says. “But this is my life.” Caputo shares information with potential assistant Joseph from his departed mother, much of it so meaningful and specific that it brings him to tears.

“Everything she said was on point,” he says. “I showed up here for a job interview and I didn’t expect I would hear from my mom. … It’s solace in a way.”

“I’m not here to prove anything or defend my gift. I’m here for you to have the experience of knowing that your loved ones are still with you,” Caputo told PEOPLE in a recent interview.

“People say oh, they probably fill out a questionnaire [on the show],” she also said. “That’s not true. They don’t.” The messages she gets, she says, are “strictly coming from spirit.”

Long Island Medium airs Sundays (9 p.m. ET) on TLC.